First off, allow me to give a huge shout-out to fellow Bloggers Kate Trgovac from My Name Is Kate and Bill Sweetman from Sweetmantra (both are also regular One Degree contributors). It’s always a blast to meet up with people who share a similar passion for writing and the whole digital marketing space.
Today is the last day of the CMA – Canadian Marketing Association – National Convention And Trade Show and I’m sad it’s coming to an end. Montreal is home turf for Twist Image, so having all of these national marketers in our own backyard has made the event all the more exciting.
Today was Joseph Jaffe’s day. Last night, we had a chat about the power of new marketing and its perception in the eyes of more traditional marketers. We got nowhere on new nomenclature for the word “consumers” (we’ve written off words like “users” and “prosumers”), and we had some good laughs.
Jaffe kicked things off this morning with his keynote: Life After the 30-Second Spot: Energize Your Brand With a Bold Mix of Alternatives to Traditional Advertising. Jaffe just rocks (and no, I’m not just saying that because I got the chance to co-host his Podcast, Across The Sound, or because I was really pushing the organizing committee to bring him). Jaffe really gets the new marketing space. He brings humor, style and serious statistics to the average advertising exec. His book, Life After The 30-Second Spot, comes to life in his presentations. The audience was listening (now, it’s time to act).
More than his presentation, Jaffe is just a great guy. He takes people’s calls. He meets everyone with a friendly smile and he’s enjoying his status at the top of the new marketing heap.
Right after his keynote, I gave my presentation (which ran as a concurrent session) called, The Brand is Flat: How Brand Democratization is Going To Change Your Business For the Better. Even though Jaffe had to catch a plane, he made a point to come and stay as long as he could (he’s a class act – and that’s why I shall remain the Kelly to his Regis). It was a well-attended presentation (over 100 people in the room) and many of my marketing buddies came out to support me (shout-outs to Seaton, Mark, Bill, Kate, Goody, Ted, and everyone else I may have forgotten).
It’s been a great three days. Were you there? What did you think? How was mesh?